Website offers info on Mass. medical liability law

A new website has been launched to help guide patients, doctors, hospitals and insurers through the process of resolving medical liability questions in Massachusetts.

The website follows the approval last year of a new state law requiring doctors who make medical errors while treating patients to disclose their mistakes. The law also allows doctors to apologize without facing lawsuits.

The law includes a 182-day "cooling-off" period as both sides try to reach a settlement, requiring the plaintiff and defendant to exchange information and allowing health care providers to acknowledge making a mistake without it being used as an admission of liability.

The website was launched by the Massachusetts Alliance for Communication and Resolution following Medical Injury — a group formed last year and led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Massachusetts Medical Society.